Flood warning system short-listed for national award

A flood and extreme weather warning system which could save businesses millions of pounds in lost revenue has been shortlisted for a national award.

The web-based system identifies the flood and extreme weather risk of individual properties in a company’s estate and sends out alerts when a property is in danger, allowing managers to take preventive action to minimise damage and the need to close.

It has been developed by Stonehaven Technology, based on the University’s Parkside Office Village.

An original prototype was built as a demonstrator in early 2015, but it only took off after Storm Desmond which wreaked havoc across the country in December that year.

Director, Jonathan Crook, explained: “Someone from Sainsbury’s heard about our prototype and invited us to give a demonstration of our system, which is ideally suited to organisations which have a lot of properties, spread out across the country. The system was developed further, and is now used by Sainsbury’s to protect their business.”

“It is a real achievement to be short-listed for this award, as all the other finalists are multi-billion companies and we are a micro SME.”

Stonehaven was founded in  2010 and has benefitted from close links with the University, with academics providing expert advice on different aspects of their business.

The flood warning  and extreme weather system has been short-listed in the innovation in technology and systems category of the BIFM Facilities Management Awards. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 9 October.